Layoffs Jumped in April Despite War's End
Mon May 5,11:26 AM ET Add Business - Reuters to My Yahoo!
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Job cuts announced at U.S. employers jumped in April to their highest monthly tally since November, a report showed on Monday, confirming the end of the war in Iraq (news - web sites) did not stop companies from firing more workers.
Layoffs at U.S. firms surged 71 percent to 146,399 in April from 85,396 job cuts planned in March, job placement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas said. That brought the year's total job cut announcements to a hefty 502,194 even as U.S. troops made rapid progress in the battle for Baghdad.
"The sharp increase in job cuts last month should serve as a warning that it is premature to conclude that the quick end to the war in Iraq will bring a quick turnaround in the economy and job market," Challenger Chief Executive John Challenger said in a statement.
Government payrolls data, published last Friday, showed U.S. unemployment jumped to a four-month high of 6 percent in April and businesses cut jobs for a third straight month.
Some 40 percent of the job cuts in April came from the public sector as state and local governments cut spending during a revenue crunch, the Challenger report said.
The 57,927 job cuts announced by government agencies in April were the largest one-month total from a single industry since Sept. 11, 2001. At that time, the transportation sector, rattled by the attacks on New York and Washington, eliminated 96,333 jobs.
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